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My team uses InDesign books all the time so multiple people can work on a project simultaneously. Books are supposed to only allow one person to open each file within the book. If someone already has a file open, the book is supposed to show a lock icon next to that file and no one else can open it.
However, this week, InDesign has stopped doing this. It allows us to open a file in the book even if someone already has that file open. Instead of making the file read-only like the few previous times we've had this problem, InDesign allows both people to edit and save their changes, and makes a new duplicate file when saving the second person's edits.
This is a very frustrating problem, because we now have to check ourselves if someone else has each file open - which InDesign is supposed to do and has always done before - and manually re-merge duplicate files. At one point a file in our most recent book had FOUR duplicates because of this bug!
Does anyone else have this issue and has found a fix? InDesign 2024, version 19.5 - it looks like this issue started after that update so maybe there's a bug in it that caused this? The image shows a file from our most recent book and the duplicate created by InDesign.
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As a test, try to revert to InDesign 19.4 - will it make a difference? You can do so from the Creative Cloud app:
Also, while not related to your particular issue, may I suggest to enable file extensions at all times:
Also, where are your files located - what kind of server?
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We'll try reverting to 19.4. The files are in SharePoint. We moved to that about a month ago from a regular network drive to improve remote work and storage.
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My team collaborates on files shared through Dropbox, and we often face the challenge of multiple people editing the same files simultaneously. To prevent this, we use a script that ensures only one person can open a file at a time:
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Thanks for the suggestion, but my problem is that InDesign is supposed to do that already with books and it's suddenly stopped. I'd prefer to get InDesign working how it's supposed to without using scripts to add in features it's supposed to already have.
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Thanks for the suggestion, but my problem is that InDesign is supposed to do that already with books and it's suddenly stopped.
By @MadelineW
From the description of your issue, it looks to me it's SharePoint that's duplicating the files under a new name. I could be wrong too, of course.
As a test, try to mimic your workflow using a different cloud service such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Will it work as expected?
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We'll have to try it. Thanks.
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Thanks for the suggestion, but my problem is that InDesign is supposed to do that already with books and it's suddenly stopped. I'd prefer to get InDesign working how it's supposed to without using scripts to add in features it's supposed to already have.
By @MadelineW
There is a known issue that lock files created by InDesign aren't synchronised within cloud services.
And your cloud service can also perform versioning.
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Seriously? I didn't know that. We'll try moving one of our books back to a local drive. Do you know if it would work in Adobe's cloud, or does that have the same problem? I'd hope their own cloud could handle their own files...
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Seriously? I didn't know that. We'll try moving one of our books back to a local drive. Do you know if it would work in Adobe's cloud, or does that have the same problem? I'd hope their own cloud could handle their own files...
By @MadelineW
No idea.
I always work locally - remote "locations" are for backup purpose - not for live work.
You can link the resources - place graphic files stored remotely - but there is no built-in option for multiple users to work on the same file at the same time - so INDD files should be copied locally, edited and then uploaded back.
It's not so hard to make a CMS system that will keep track of who is using which INDD file and "release" it when needed.
Including true versioning.
I could easily add such functionality to my ID-Tasker tool.